Chapter 188: Chapter 73: Complete Cycle Hit (Double-Length) (Part 2)
"Will Lin Guanglai have the chance today to achieve this ultimate accomplishment for a batter?"
Just after the commentator finished saying this, it didn’t take long for the audience in the stands and some players in the Waseda Jitsugyo bench to realize this situation.
The intense atmosphere began to ferment.
When Lin Guanglai walked back from second base to his team’s dugout, the teammates on the bench told him this news—the previous half inning, even though Lin Guanglai got to second base early, the subsequent batters were suppressed by Tokai University Sagami High School, therefore Lin Guanglai couldn’t advance at all, leaving only a stranded runner at second base.
Realizing he had a chance to achieve a perfect hitting record, Lin Guanglai certainly wanted to capture such a special record—Koshien Championship + perfect hitting record, what could be more wonderful than these two gifts?
Of course, this does not mean Lin Guanglai would deliberately aim for a single—when the ball he hits is good enough to reach second or even third base, he would unhesitatingly continue to conquer the bases for the team.
After all, no matter how important the perfect hitting record is, it cannot compare to the beautiful blue-purple victory flag of the Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament; in the ever-changing field, if one gives up the chance to advance just for a record, they might suffer consequences and regret it later.
Top of the sixth inning, Tokai University Sagami High School launched another offensive, trying to close the score gap; facing the aggressive opponents, Lin Guanglai chose to speed up in this half-inning and struck out three batters from Tokai University Sagami High School consecutively, inciting rounds of cheers from the audience.
Bottom of the sixth inning, Waseda Jitsugyo’s lineup responded—under the situation of two outs from the eighth and ninth batters, the third-year duo from Waseda Jitsugyo hit consecutive singles in three successive at-bats, quickly filling the bases.
It was in this situation that Lin Guanglai stepped up to the batting area for the fourth time in this game.
Gently waving the black and gold bat in his hand, Lin Guanglai appeared calm, and no one could tell his real feelings at this moment.
In contrast, pitcher Nagata Ryudou and the Tokai University Sagami High School’s infielders all took on a look as if bracing for an impending disaster, as if something tremendous was about to happen.
Indeed, it was so.
Lin Guanglai was just a single away from completing the second perfect hitting record in Senbatsu Tournament history, and not only the audience and Waseda Jitsugyo players realized this, but so did the Tokai University Sagami High School players.
Compared to the beneficiaries like Waseda Jitsugyo and the excited audience, Tokai University Sagami High School was not inclined towards benevolence, especially in this era of emerging networks, as the players of Tokai University Sagami High School could easily imagine that if Lin Guanglai completed the perfect hitting record against them, the post-game discussions could turn into:
Tokai University Sagami High School, and the starting nine on the field, would forever be enshrined in Koshien’s history in a rather unique way!
Tokai University Sagami High School players certainly didn’t want to become the background to Lin Guanglai’s crowning glory, and precisely for this reason, when Lin Guanglai came up to bat, he could keenly sense the shift in his opponents’ momentum.
Behind home plate, as both sides were almost ready, the chief umpire pointed to the pitcher’s mound, signaling the official start of the at-bat:
"Play Ball!"
Following the umpire’s declaration, the vast Koshien Stadium instantly fell silent—in such a potentially historic moment, no one wanted to ruin the opportunity to witness history due to their own reasons.
Likewise, through television broadcasts, images from the baseball field were sent into thousands of households across Japan, with countless eyes fixed on the situation on the field, afraid to miss anything with a single blink.
If asked who was the most excited at this moment, it would undoubtedly be the journalists responsible for filming—those in the media box beside the field, tasked with documenting the game, could no longer sit still. They were already on their feet, constantly adjusting the settings of their cameras, determined to capture every moment that might unfold next.
Considering Lin Guanglai’s previous performance and assessing his mentality, Tokai University Sagami High School’s players were convinced he would increase his swings at the baseball this at-bat—putting themselves in the same position, if there were an opportunity to achieve a perfect hitting record on Koshien’s final stage, probably not a single player from Tokai University Sagami High School could resist such a temptation.
For this reason, after a discussion between Nagata Ryudou and Sato Daikun, they decided to increase the proportion of deceptive breaking balls in this at-bat—Tokai University Sagami High School’s only thought at this moment was to do everything possible to prevent Lin Guanglai from achieving the perfect hitting record.
The first pitch, a fastball aimed tightly inside towards Lin Guanglai, with a tricky path and considerable speed; more importantly, because Nagata Ryudou is a left-handed pitcher, this inside pitch appeared to be coming directly from Lin Guanglai’s back and snaked in close to his body, very intimidating.
Thus, after a brief hesitation, Lin Guanglai chose to let this pitch go by and didn’t rashly swing at it.
The aggressive fastball skimmed the edge of the strike zone, and the chief umpire called it a strike.